A Diorama of Cudillero
Hey folks. I just finished a small Diorama of a beach town inspired by Cudillero.
It's my first ever project in 3ds max, and so far, I've resented every step of the way with this software. My god do I miss blender.
But it was an assignment for school, so we had to use 3ds max. Anyway...
Have a look:
Rendered in Mental Ray by the way, but it looks about as nice in viewport.
I uploaded some more renders to my Artstation account (a few too many for a forum post, I thought)
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/cudillero-diorama-3d
Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear it.
-Thomas.
It's my first ever project in 3ds max, and so far, I've resented every step of the way with this software. My god do I miss blender.
But it was an assignment for school, so we had to use 3ds max. Anyway...
Have a look:
Rendered in Mental Ray by the way, but it looks about as nice in viewport.
I uploaded some more renders to my Artstation account (a few too many for a forum post, I thought)
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/cudillero-diorama-3d
Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear it.
-Thomas.
Replies
Can't think of much to crit. Maybe add a little bit of rubbish/evidence of people moving through the environment in future? (If the diorama is deliberately pristine then ignore me)
Really cool project. Really well executed.
I think it's easy to grime up your scene to make it look very dirty for realism, I didn't want to make it look that way. Thanks for the critique though!
[sketchfab]e051a32d21d6453c8fad408082492267[/sketchfab]
But I felt a lack of AO in the overall.
I think I would have continued the railing in front of the florist up the stairs and around the curve to the dock. Keep people form falling off the upper walk way to the beach. Just a safety thing.
The windows all seem a bit dark. Maybe lighten them up some or add some shutters to some or have an AC unit sticking out of a couple?
As a person who started off using Lightwave for 5 years then moved on to 3DS Max I am curious as to the challenges you faced coming from blender. I have taken a stab a Blender a few times, but due to no real need to switch software, I have not gotten the hang of using it.
Nice job, Keep it up!
With blender, everything is shortcut driven. Steep learning curve, yes, but soooo much quicker. 3DS feels like woodworking with one hand tied around your back. Open the vice, put in the wood, close the vice, grab the saw from the bottom drawer, use the saw, put the saw back in the bottom drawer, open the vice. Blender is much faster. Hitting hotkeys instantly triggers an action, rather than requiring an extra click. In 3DS max, everything requires that extra click. All those clicks add up, resulting in a much slower workflow.
Blender is also more coherent. All the UI's are the same. All the selections work the same. All the hotkeys are the same across all modes.
It's more stable. It's faster. It's more power-user friendly.
It's just... better. I miss Blender
But honestly man, all these tool have advantages and disadvantages, and I promise you if you setup hotkeys in max and took some time to learn it better in time you can get faster then you ever were in blender.
When I use max, I rarely have to ever click on anything. I have everything setup to a hotkey on my n52 te. I just use my left hand and everything is at my fingertips. I can work in expert mode no problem except when I have to fiddle with the modifier stack. Keep an open mind it will get better!
Nice work with the Diorama, Id like to see some reference images tho so I could actually give you a critique.
That last image was for a preproduction line art assignment.
I love the Diorama, too. Especially seeing the initial drawing and the final result.
Thanks for the compliment
If you are looking for a job in the industry they are always looking for 3ds max users/ maya users/ modo and if you don't know these programs with proficiency it could loose you a gig. Look for job offers yourself and see what programs they want you to know. Even when working as a freelance artist, often time companies require you to use one program or another depending on the job. This is most likely why your class is requiring you to use 3ds max, to prepare you for this. My job has recently required me to use modo full time, and although I wasn't crazy about it, I had no choice in the matter. Now I can see many advantages with modo although I still only work within specific areas of the program.
I also like the drawing you did and seeing the final piece. Is it suppose to be so clean though? Like was that a style choice? Adding in some decals and damage here and there like in the reference would be cool.
In my opinion, at the end of the day, big companies are looking for originality and that special something. Talent can be transferred between applications.
I agree with Wakkamis about the windows being too dark. Adding some simple blinds or curtains in there would help dramatically. Also the shirts not receiving any shadowing looks odd. Since they are all under cover, it would be good to just darken them up a bit in the texture.
My only real gripe with this scene is that it is too clean. It would be great to see a piece of paper under the dumpsters or buried in the sand near the dock or even in a bush and underwater. Even in the cleanest areas, where there is people there is trash. Adding a single alpha grass clump that you can stick between a few ground bricks and other areas could help it feel a bit less ultra groomed as well.
Great stuff! Thanks for sharing.
@Peet: The clothes not receiving shadow is a Sketchfab thing. It doesn't do light baking with alpha atm. The dark windows were kind of a choice, although I must admit that they stick out like a sore thumb. I did it because I wanted to use only one texture for it, and having bright details in there would give it away. Not it's not as obvious.
I guess this many people can't be wrong and it IS too clean. I've tried to keep it clean because I feel like 3d artist often go overboard with this and make it look post-apocalyptic almost. I'll keep that in mind and play with it in my next project, thanks very much for the feedback!
Nice job on this environment. Only crit other than the ones already given: the roofs feel very flat. No normal maps in this project?
I've used Blender a few years, then moved to Maya and finaly 3ds Max in 2014. The transition between Blender and Maya wasn't fun. But overall 3ds Max feels very easy to use. And for modelling, the most powerfull.
Sure, 3ds max is easy to use, but that's it's weakness, it's not POWER-user friendly.
Also..Use Keyboard Shortcuts, 3d max scripts, plugins, configure modifier sets...There's a lot of ways to make 3d Max a faster/ more efficient work environment. This goes for all programs..if you use it on a daily basis learn/configure those shortcuts to a faster workflow
I'm guessing he means via painting in spec (if your project is diffuse only).
It would help ground the materials more, like defining what's metal and whats rubber ect. via painted spec and highlights.
The gal who made this character does painted spec really well...
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76301
"Just as good" doesn't cut it though. If you're looking to get me to switch over my established art team there needs to be a stronger selling point than, "Almost just as good".
Don't want to derail this thread, but what WarrenM said is the reality of the whole switching 3d apps.
It takes a lot of time and money to get everyone at a company on the same page with software and its not so easy to just up and switch.
I have heard that alternate sources of fuel are far better options but our current system of cars running on gasoline is so ingrained in everything, it would take 20-40 years to switch. This is a exaggerated example obviously for 3d software in the games industry, but this is the best example I can think of to relate to the topic.
Anyway maybe you are right, there could be better options available. But I would just try and keep an open mind about it, because you might not have an option when you start working.
...Of course, I started in 3DS Max and have since moved to Maya (which is my favorite). I think people are probably biased towards wherever they started/learned the most.
Now, back on topic, I really like this piece. Most of my comments have already been mentioned by others (e.g. Specularity). Keep up the good work!
Blender had a major interface overhaul a few years ago and it's way, way better now. They finally listened to everyone that was complaining.
I'm not saying it's perfect now, but ... Well, here's how it went for me:
On the old version, I spent a few hours learning how to do things in Blender. Then I'd get distracted for a month or 2, and come back and have to re-learn everything. This is *very* weird for me, because I just don't un-learn things. I tried this a few times and finally gave up on Blender and 3d modeling in general.
After the interface rewrite, I tried again. Of course, I had to spend the hours learning again, but that wasn't a surprise. When my attention wandered for a few months, and I came back... I just started using it again! There was no re-learning this time. Everything still just made sense to me, and everything worked.
It was a night-and-day difference.
I don't expect people who have trained for hundreds or thousands of hours to stop and learn Blender at this point. There's little that it does better than the pricey competition, and the main draw is that it's so cheap in comparison.
For for newcomers? I absolutely expect them to get started on Blender simply because it's so easy to get, and so easy to get tutorials for. A lot of the new lifeblood in the industry is going to learn on Blender, and that's a powerful thing.
Of course, as I've said before, I'm a novice at this, so my perspective could be warped... But I do know the power of marketing and word-of-mouth, and I see a *lot* of people recommending Blender to novices.
http://imgur.com/a/iUh7e#0